The Circus is a 1928 silent romantic comedy film written, produced, and directed by Charlie Chaplin.

The film stars Chaplin, Al Ernest Garcia, Merna Kennedy, Harry Crocker, George Davis and Henry Bergman.

The ringmaster of an impoverished circus hires Chaplin's Little Tramp as a clown, but discovers that he can only be funny unintentionally.

[2] The Circus was the seventh-highest grossing silent film in cinema history taking in more than $3.8 million in 1928.

The ringmaster craftily hires him as a poorly paid property man who is always stationed in the performance area of the big top tent so he can unknowingly improvise comic material.

The Tramp befriends Merna, a horse rider who is treated badly by her ringmaster stepfather.

After overhearing a fortune teller inform Merna that she sees "love and marriage with a dark, handsome man who is near you now", the overjoyed Tramp buys a ring from another clown.

Despite a few mishaps, including several mischievous escaped monkeys, he manages to survive the experience and receives much applause from the audience.

[4] In late 1925, he returned from New York to California and began working on developing the film at Charlie Chaplin Studios.

[10][11] Chaplin was served with divorce papers by Lita Grey in December, and litigation delayed the release of the film for another year.

The Circus was well received by audiences and critics, and while its performance at the box office was good, it earned less than The Gold Rush (1925).

"[18] Variety ran a very positive review, stating that "For the picture patrons, all of them, and for broad, laughable fun – Chaplin's best.

He filmed that sequence four days after the release of The Jazz Singer (the first successful talkie) in New York.

[24] In 1967, Chaplin composed a new musical score for the film and a recording of him singing "Swing Little Girl" playing over the opening credits.

[30] The Circus was released on Blu-ray and DVD by the Criterion Collection in 2019, which include trailers of the film, archival footage from the production, and an audio commentary track by Chaplin biographer Jeffrey Vance.